Teal isn't their colour but two independent candidates with community as their credence are on track to claim Liberal strongholds in NSW.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Albeit loath to get excited with 40 per cent of votes still to count, Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan appears on track to succeed retiring health minister Brad Hazzard in Wakehurst after the Liberal Party conceded the formerly ultra-safe seat.
Meanwhile, fellow orange-wearing local councillor Judy Hannan is optimistic about her 1.7 per cent lead over sitting Liberal MP Nathaniel Smith in the previously safe seat of Wollondilly, south of Sydney.
If both are victorious, the pair would help make up the biggest-ever cross bench in the NSW lower house, with the Greens in Balmain and Kiama independent Gareth Ward the only two under threat of losing.
Cr Regan said four large booths as well as postal votes were still to be counted.
"We're in a very good position, but we don't take it for granted," he told AAP on Sunday.
"We took a significant swing to us, away from the Liberals. It's an amazing achievement and it's very humbling."
While teal candidates in Lane Cove, North Shore and Manly were four or more per cent away from their Liberal opponents, independent candidates had shown electorates couldn't be taken for granted, he said.
"It would be a little naive to say the teals or independents didn't have an impact," Cr Regan said.
"Pittwater (on Sydney's north shore) is very marginal now
"Until they change, those seats are going to be marginal or switch to independents."
Cr Hannan said this campaign had a whole different feel to her 2019 run, when she came within six per cent of Mr Smith.
Changing demographics, her local standing, Mr Smith's views on privatisation and the government's desire to raise the Warragamba Dam wall were among factors at play this time, she said.
"It's like we don't exist out here," she told AAP.
"And yet we are the food bowl for a lot of Sydney, we're the fresh air for Sydney.
"We won't be taken for granted again, I don't think."
However, Liberal minister James Griffin, who held off a teal threat in his beachside electorate of Manly, criticised Climate 200 for distributing negative flyers, in stark contrast to the "politics done differently" motto they claim.
"They've almost become a parody of themselves," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
It comes as the major parties' share of the primary vote dropped again to a record low, this time 72 per cent.
"In terms of a Liberal-Labor race, it was a landslide, but in terms of getting a majority, it looks like Labor will just scrape across the line because it's not just about a Labor-coalition race any more," election analyst Ben Raue of the Tally Room told AAP.
While independent candidates traditionally popped up here and there, Saturday's contest involved credible threats in several neighbouring seats, including the four North Shore candidates endorsed by Climate 200, he said.
Talk of whether a "teal wave" succeeded or not wasn't useful because the hype was unreasonable and silly.
But the widening cross bench in the lower house, and potentially in the upper house, showed the long-term trend across all levels of politics.
"It's not quite what we saw at the federal election but new indies are getting elected," he said.
Vote counting resumes on Monday.
Australian Associated Press
